Medvedev: Trump unable to improve relations with Russia

Thursday, October 18, 2018 1:00:22 PM

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with Euronews, said that the U.S. President Donald Trump “hasn’t done anything yet to achieve radical improvement between two countries’ relations.” Prime Minister expressed his doubt that Trump will succeed at improving relations in the future. One of the interview excerpts was published on the YouTube channel.

“He is unlikely to be able to do it because of the pressure that is being put on him,” RIA Novosti quoted the prime minister. Medvedev added that in the United States the president "is being attacked from left and right".

Another part of the interview published on YouTube concerns Medvedev’s comments regarding “anti-Russian hysteria”. The head of the government stressed that it certainly exists in the United States.

“You see, in general, any such assessments are definitely not conducive to the international cooperation. I remember the Soviet period when the Soviet Union also labelled and branded the international capital system and said that it divides us, it didn’t lead to anything good, ” said the prime minister in this part of the interview.

“Everything that concerns Russia in the United States pursues a different goal — these are domestic political clashes,” believes Medvedev. He continued that the political struggle is not only between the two main parties, Republican and Democratic but also among the Republicans themselves. A similar situation exists in Europe, said the head of government: in 90% cases the anti-Russian campaign "pursues completely domestic political goals."

Medvedev says that American business does not feel much impact from these sanctions, unlike Europe because Russian trade volume with the EU is "huge”. “During a current bad period, the trade turnover with the United States is approximately $ 20 billion. This is nothing,” he added.

In mid-August, Bloomberg, referring to the sources close to the Russian leadership, wrote that Moscow continues to believe that Trump can improve relations between the two countries. However, Russian officials are increasingly convinced that economic isolation is likely to continue in the future and that the situation may worsen, stated the publication.